Nisa Investment Advisors LLC Decreases Holdings in W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB)

Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lowered its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley Co. (NYSE:WRB) by 19.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 180,201 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 42,148 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in W. R. Berkley were worth $10,545,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. increased its stake in W. R. Berkley by 51.0% during the 3rd quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 619 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 209 shares in the last quarter. PFS Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 51.1% in the third quarter. PFS Partners LLC now owns 719 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in shares of W. R. Berkley during the second quarter worth approximately $42,000. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV raised its stake in W. R. Berkley by 108.1% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 801 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 416 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Coastline Trust Co purchased a new position in W. R. Berkley in the 3rd quarter valued at $47,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.82% of the company’s stock.

W. R. Berkley Trading Down 3.6 %

Shares of WRB stock opened at $56.93 on Friday. W. R. Berkley Co. has a 1-year low of $50.73 and a 1-year high of $65.49. The firm has a market cap of $21.69 billion, a PE ratio of 14.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a 50-day moving average of $60.22 and a two-hundred day moving average of $58.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.93 billion. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 11.96% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.90 EPS. On average, analysts predict that W. R. Berkley Co. will post 3.95 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.56%. W. R. Berkley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.20%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WRB has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $68.00 to $67.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded W. R. Berkley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $69.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, November 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $63.74.

W. R. Berkley Company Profile

W. R. Berkley Corporation, an insurance holding company, operates as a commercial lines writers worldwide. It operates in two segments, Insurance and Reinsurance & Monoline Excess. The Insurance segment underwrites commercial insurance business, including excess and surplus lines, admitted lines, and specialty personal lines.